The Ancients

All the Brinsmeads known to be alive in the world today descend
from just one couple: Thomas and Agnys Brinsmead of St. Giles in the
Wood in North Devon. However, they were not the Adam and Eve of
the family. In the early 1600's when they were alive there were
many Brinsmeads around; it is just that, so far, the link remains
elusive. Their descendents can be seen as "the modern Brinsmeads"; their
contemporaries and ancestors - the as yet unlinked Brinsmeads - as "the
ancients".

Where were they?

Early records show two main concentrations of Brinsmeads; those living
on the Yorkshire - Lincolnshire boarder in North-East England and those
living in Somerset and Devonshire, centered on the village of
Bishop's
Hull, next to Taunton, Somerset. There were several Brinsmeads living in
and around London, but they appear to have been related to either the Bishop's
Hull family or the Lincolnshire family. There were a variety of Brinsmeads living in specific
villages in Devon and Somerset; some clearly related to the Bishop's
Hull line, others of uncertain ancestry.

Spellings

Brinsmead is even now a difficult name for people to spell.
Back in the sixteenth century the spelling of surnames was much less
settled. There are many spellings extent of the family name.
Some of this was as a result of phonetic usage, some of it due to
changes in style and some a lack of literacy. Common forms of the
name in the 16th century included Brynsmeade, Brynsmead, Brindsmead and Brinesmead.

Not infrequently an M is substituted for the N. This is more
often an error either in original spelling or in transcription than a
spelling variation, since its occurance is inconsistant. The Latter Day
Saints transcription project that resulted in the International
Geneological Index (the IGI), while the family historian's best friend,
does contain some doozies when it records Brinsmeads. These
include Brinchmaid, Bringemate and many others, all quite understandable
when one tries to decipher the original records from the 1600's, but
nonetheless a challange.

The Myths of Family History

Despite the efforts of certain commercial houses to tell you there is
a Brinsmead Coat of Arms, in thirty years of research we have found no
evidence this there is or ever was. The plaques you can buy come
with a tiny subscript saying "this is what a
typical family crest might look like". Nor would one expect to
find a Coat of Arms. The Brinsmeads were from the farming and
merchant classes - many of them the proverbial "Ag Labs".

There are a variety of publications that puport to explain the
origin of the name and its geoographical origin. None provide any
convincing account. A few suggest the family was originally Irish.
The evidence we have is that te Irish branch of the family almost
certainly began with a Samual Brinsmead who first went to Ireland at the
time of Cromwell's army.

There is a very large contingent of Brinsmade's in the USA. They do
appear to be related, and the variation in the spelling clearly took
place after the Brinsmead arrival in the US when a number of spellings
were simplified. However, many of the trees puporting to trace
this family back to different parts of England include wild speculation,
most often cut and paste from dubious Ancestral File or IGI records that
do not stand up to original parish record verification.

When we have sufficient information we have created specific
pages for people, families or settlements, each listed and linked in the
left margin. We will keep adding to the Random Sightings and
trying to spin off new pages as our research brings new information to
light.